The name game…

It’s just then when I was savoring a rare ethereal silence over a cup of Darjeeling tea, life threw me a kick at the gut! Quite literally. All hell broke loose while a tiny speck of life–restless and curious, lurked beneath the threshold of my bosom, too eager to taste the world outside. This blog is about him- my munchkin who now manages to keep me in a perpetual state of motion–in mind, body and spirit. I usher you, wonderful people out there to hold my hand and help me cross this bridge of angst for my baby just gave birth to a mother!!

Soham is the name of my son, I call him Gubdu babu though. Its just about time, before he starts responding to his name that I find a nickname that can be used beyond his chubby-baby image. My friends, however, are totally against it. Desh, whom you are familiar with, thinks that the name Gubdu babu reminds him of the kid in Amar Prem (Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore starrer old Bollywood film). It’s just so Bengalish and sweet. Two things that is so easily associated. I would still want to contemplate on it. As you might know, Bengalis have this annoying habit of keeping horrid nicknames that no way helps the personality of the kids in later age. Say for example, a dainty, savvy career woman named Luchi (for those who don’t know what is it, its a round saucer like inflated bread made of white flour). Or an elderly, reserved gentleman named Tota (parrot in hindi -the bird that chirps and chatters all the time)! I thought and thought and now I think I like this name for a nickname: Josh. It means fame in Bengali. Its small, suave and also user friendly in the American perspective. My hubby thinks its something that I can call G’babu after ten years, not now. Ah well, what then?

This name issue is being going on forever. First I had to decide on a proper name, as here, in America it has to be finalized in the hospital itself. Right after giving birth! It was in an ultrasound of my fourth pregnant month I think, when the doc vouched that it has to be a baby boy. It wasn’t too difficult for him, he said, as just then my boy was floating with his legs wide apart! The moment I could personify my progeny, I’d wanted to give him an identity. An unique identity. A meaningful identity. The search began. It was like an unending search through pages after pages of physical books and the virtual world. I sought for popular names, Hindu names, Sanskrit names, Bengali names, mythological names and what not! Something that I liked, the rest of the world I didn’t like. Something that they suggested, I garbaged point blankly. Something that all of us liked turned out to be already taken by a close relative. Damn! Finally, one fine day, I came across this name which was not only good to apprehend but also had a profound meaning. Soham. Here is the meaning from Wikipedia:

I felt proud beyond belief. Hopefully my son feels the same and does justice to this name.